Then, it was off to Wegmans for some grocery shopping – I picked up some goodies that you’ll be seeing tomorrow 🙂

That’s all for tonight! I’m off to go finish read a few chapters of Beowulf…I’m supposed to be done with it by Tuesday, but who really does summer reading anyways?

…Oh yeah, I do! Boooo.

What are your favorite books from required summer reading?

Beowulf is actually pretty good, so that would be in the top few – I just can’t get around to reading it! I do remember reading many a good book during junior high when they gave you novels (that they knew you would read!). I always enjoyed those, and the fun projects they would assign – like making a movie poster for the book! I always got crafty =)

See you tomorrow lovlies! I have the 10 am shift tomorrow, thank goodness!

This will be a more normal morning, which makes me very happy – sleeping until a normal (humanly) hour, running (yay! 2 days until the 5K) and eating breakfast and lunch at the usual time.

Today and yesterday I’ve had to eat at the bright morning hour of 6 – and then given lunch break at 10:30. Talk about a crazed-up appetite clock!

The first day of every month, as soon as you wake up, jump out of bed and hop three times and spin around three times, saying “Happy Bunny Bunny Day!” for good luck in the coming month.

It’s so goofy and you look ridiculous, but it’s a cute tradition.

In my high school, on the first day of every month, the morning show puts up decorations, the hosts eat bunny-shaped chocolates, and remind you to hop out of bed next month and get some good luck!

Awe, how cute!

As far as my life goes, I’ve been working my tail off these past few weeks at my new job (which I love by the way 🙂 ), and spending more hours running, standing, and walking around to do so.

I mean, I’m not complaining – I am getting paid after all! But it would be nice to have a foot massage at the end of the day…or a swiss massage…

What are your solutions for the end-of-the-workday slump?

I have to apologize for not blogging as often as usual – getting used to this new schedule is so draining! I’ve had plenty of time to cook and photograph, though, so don’t fret – we’ve got yummy deliciousness coming up.

We’ll start with brekkie for the last two days – since it’s my favorite meal of the day =)

BREAKFAST:

Oh, and lots of blackberries, bluebs, cherries, and strawberries – can you say cherry-stained fingers?

This was actually my Brunch for Lunch on Tuesday – so no lunch. That’s why it’s so loaded!

Finished devoured. Clean bowl =)

Today’s was similar, but I took an even larger portion (hungry hungry!) – the giant dollop of almond butter is not pictured, mainly because it immediately went in my mouth.

I also added in a chopped up Apple Pie Katebar just at the end of cooking the buckwheat – ooey gooey goodness =)

p.s. I was eating at 6 am – I woke up at 3:45 am to wake up, run (4.25 miles! yayay), shower, and eat brekkie…I had to make it to lunch! I did enjoy a mid-morning snack of an organic pink lady apple, though!

Oh, almond buttah, how you make me swooooon.

LUNCH:

Lunch the past couple of days has been equally delicious. I had Brunch for Lunch Tuesday as you saw before, but today I had lunch at work for the first time!

Tonight for dinner I whipped up some Carrot Cake Quinoa – and it went perfectly with the Kabocha Squash with Azuki Beans, salads, and roasted cauliflower.Mmmm.

Carrot Cake Quinoa

If I didn’t have this at dinner, I might actually have thought it was carrot cake! Well, not really – but it’s about as close as you can get without a ton of added suga =)

Ingredients:

EVOO

lemon juice

1.5 cups freshly grated carrot – fresh! About 2 large carrots worth

1/2-3/4 cup raisins

2 cups water

1 cup uncooked quinoa

cinnamon

Directions:

In a large skillet, heat about 1-2 tbsp. EVOO with a tablespoon or so of lemon juice. Add grated carrot and raisins and saute for a few minutes, or until heated and juicy.

Add water and quinoa and bring to a boil. Add lots of cinnamon (more the merrier!) and reduce to a simmer and cover, stirring every few minutes for about 15 minutes, or until all water is absorbed.

Serve warm or cool, and enjoy! =)

This dish is always a hit with the fam, and has me going back for seconds thirds. Its natural sweetness and nuttiness is a perfect combo – it’s also a super healthy way to satisfy your cravings for something a bit sweet!

Plus, it makes for great leftovers! Can you say Chef Katelyn’s lunch tomorrow, anyone?

After dinner I made some Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Katebars! They smell amazing and I am beyond dying to try these all melted in my buckwheat tomorrow =)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Katebars

Makes 5 Katebars

Ingredients:

1 cup pitted, packed medjool dates

2 tbsp. raisins

2/3 cup almonds

pure vanilla extract (alcohol-free) – about 1 tsp.

2 tbsp. mini vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

In a food processor, pulse almonds into small pieces, or until no whole almonds are left.

Add dates, raisins, and vanilla extract and pulse until combined and it starts to roll around in a ball.

Add chocolate chips and pulse a few times, then place in a bowl and mush-mash with your hands (the fun part!). Your hands will get all sticky but it is so worth it.

Break up into 5 equal sections and form into bars. Wrap with wax paper, plastic wrap, or plastic baggies – whateva you got!

Store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to eat them. Enjoy! =)

Ideas for optimum Katebar enjoyment!:

Chopped up and combined with your morning hot (or cold!) cereal. It’s a mind explosion/dream/the most delicious thing in the world chopped up and added just as your hot cereal is just about to finish cooking – then remove from heat and keep covered for a few minutes. The result? Ooey gooey goodness!

Drumroll please…I FINALLY have my birthday pictures up!! (they’re all ahead, don’t you fret!) I’ve noticed that uploading pictures to WordPress is about ten times easier (actually, a million times easier) than on Blogger.

Awe sisters 🙂 I love her so much

So on my birthday, I woke up bright and early (8 am! harsh..) and checked my DailyOM horoscope (which is always freakishly correct) to go to Power Vibrant Yoga, my favorite yoga class. It’s a good cardio and strength workout in addition to being an amazing stretcher-outer, since it’s all in flows (basically means going from pose to pose, not really holding them for an extended time). It was the perfect way to start my morning, as yoga always is.

Then, I came home and we had a birfday brunch! We made spelt pancakes and topped them with pure maple syrup (I never touch the fake stuff), apple butter, and various fruits. It was so good and kept me full until dinner! Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures (I was hungry, and hungry girls don’t always think of cameras), but you can imagine a beautifully stacked plate of pancakes with apple butter, maple syrup, and variously colored and shaped fruits. I hope I didn’t just make you hungry..cause now I am!

We enjoyed the day, relaxing, reading, hanging out, enjoying the sunshine, and baking my cake:). It turned out beautifully, as you will see in the pictures coming up, and it tasted even better than it looked. I snuck more than a few tastes during the prepping process 🙂 I can’t help myself.

For dinner, we headed over to a local Ethiopian vegan restaurant called Natural Oasis. We ordered five dishes for the four of us, and we came home with a doggy bag. Best part? Each dish is only four dollars.Yeah, you heard me! Four. Dollars. So for four people to eat a modestly-sized meal and leave totally stuffed, it only costs 20 bucks. I like to call that a “scoreski”.

They brew their own Kombucha tea in various flavors like House Blend, Mango Ceylon, and a few others that were unavailable at the time. They also make their own ginger beer, so obviously we had to get some. I got the House Blend tea and ended up taking another one home 🙂 It was so good! The chef was such a sweetheart, and gave me a part of his scoby! Complete with instructions on how to make my own Kombucha.

Well, I’ll definitely be going back! I forgot to take pictures, unfortunately; we were so surprised by the amazingly fast service and mesmerized by the dishes that were being individually brought to our table (fresh and made to order!). Did I mention we were really hungry?

The spread: Ethiopian lentils with Injera bread, wilted kale, cashew-cheese pizza, sauteed summer squash with other veggies, and a risotto. Oh. My. God. The risotto was like heaven on earth, as was everything else. We ate it up so quickly (while continuously sipping on our ginger beer and kombucha), and we must have finished just about everything in under 20 minutes. We stayed for awhile and chatted, then came home for cake :)…and presents!

I got a new bicycle (beautiful and will last me for the rest of my life!) that I still have yet to name (any ideas? give me something classy 🙂 ) and a whole bunch of cute things from the grandmas and grandpas. I love my grandparents 🙂

And, we devoured the cake.

Aren’t I sweet? I left the pictures allllll the way until the end 🙂

The prep:

Straight out of the oven 🙂

Cream cheese frosting! "Behind the Scenes"

…..And now for the food porn.

On the birthday table

I added walnuts as decor! Crunch crunch

I. Love. Walnuts.

After night one of birfday cake! I ate too much...

The recipe I used was from 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson (best. book. ever.), but I tweaked it and made it my own. Here’s the recipe!

In a large bowl, combine the NuStevia, non-dairy milk, applesauce, maple syrup, and vanilla, then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir in the carrots, raisins, and walnuts until just mixed.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

Let the cakes cool in the pans for 15 minutes, then invert onto wire racks to cool completely. When completely cool, stack and frost the cakes with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

1 8-0z. package of Follow Your Heart vegan cream cheese

1/3 cup Earth Balance dairy-free margarine

1 cup NuStevia Powder Baking Blend

Directions:

On the lowest speed, combine the cream cheese and margarine with a hand mixer, then add the NuStevia gradually.

Gradually increase the speed to whip the frosting, stopping when the frosting has fluffed up.

Refrigerate until ready to use.

That’s all for now lovlies, I have banana bread in the oven that I have to go check on! Pictures up tomorrow 🙂

Hi!

Chef Katelyn is a blog dedicated to the lifestyle of finding health, happiness, and inner peace through eating, exercising, and living well. I believe that what we put into our bodies, how we use them, and how we choose to enrich our lives directly effect our health mentally, physically, and emotionally. I hope you find some this balance with me while I continue my journey every day :)